The synthesis of useful materials from CO2 is an area of increasing interest and importance as the potential negative consequences of anthropogenic increases in atmospheric CO2 become more fully understood. One particularly promising use of waste CO2 is its application as a monomer for the production of polycarbonate polymers. This use has a dual benefit since it not only sequesters CO2 into the backbone of a long-lived polymer, but also displaces a portion of the petroleum derivatives currently used to make commodity polymers. Novomer has developed catalysts to efficiently copolymerize CO2 with aliphatic epoxides to produce aliphatic polycarbonate polymers (APCs) with a range of commercial applications.
Because APCs as a class have unique thermal and physical properties, it has been a challenge to utilize them as drop in replacements for petroleum-derived thermoplastics. As such, one of the most promising commercial markets for CO2-based polymers involves their use in applications where the physical and thermal properties of the polymer are complemented by the strength of other materials. Such applications include composites and glass laminates where the strength of the polymer is enhanced by the rigidity of glass plates or fibers. A potential challenge in using APCs for these applications arises is the requirement that the polymers have good adhesion to glass and other inorganic materials. As such, there is a need for APC formulations with enhanced adhesion to glass and related inorganic materials. The present invention provides, among other things, epoxide-CO2 copolymers containing chemical modifications to enhance their adhesion to glass and other inorganic materials such as those used in composite formulations.